With the recent advances in vehicle digital display technology, traditional analog gauges complement, and in some instances, are beingentirely replaced by digital displays. Consumers who are accustomed to high-performance graphics in their personal computers and handheld devices demandno less from their vehicles displays -- high quality graphic is a must.

The new TMS470 generation of MCUs for cluster applications will help developers build highly integrated cluster solutions that use a color graphics display controller with the real-time performance and versatility inherent inOMAP and DaVinci technology. TMS470PLFx MCUs can directly drive small segmentLCDs through its embedded 128-segment LCD controller, while the use of peripheral modules such as the High-End Timer (HET), Direct Memory Access Controller (DMA), and Multi-Buffered SPI (MibSPI) allow the TMS470PLFx instrument cluster MCU family to directly drive some other types of digitaldisplays with no CPU load impact. The TMS470PLFx MCUs can also drive up to6 stepper motors directly through the use of its intelligent peripherals, and supports modulated frequency and slew rate control to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI).

TI's OMAP Platform is comprised of high-performance, power efficient processors, a robust software infrastructure and a comprehensive supportnetwork for the rapid development of differentiated multimedia-enhanceddevices. Based on an ARM926 processing core, the OMAP33x applications processor platform includes advanced multimedia performance, an 18-bit LCDcontroller, a 2D graphics accelerator engine, robust frame buffer performance,a high-throughput DMA interface and several other features for graphics and streaming video applications.

The DM64x architecture is a highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) that has absorbed many external components required for digital video. Based onTI's DaVinci technology, this architecture includes multimedia codecs, multiple display output types, and robust frameworks for rapid development ofhigh-performance graphics systems, giving cluster manufacturers powerful capabilities to bring new digital graphic and video products to market.